4 killed in attacks on UN peacekeeping efforts in Mali

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Four people have been killed in two attacks on U.N. projects in Mali, the United Nations peacekeeping mission here said Wednesday.

The spokesman for the mission said the attack on Tuesday night killed one U.N. peacekeeper and gravely wounded three others at the mission's camp in the city of Gao. It said more than 10 peacekeepers were lightly wounded.

China's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said the dead peacekeeper and four of the wounded peacekeepers were Chinese.

The U.N. said a separate attack shortly afterward on a contractor for the U.N.'s mine-defusing agency in another part of the city killed two Malian security guards and a French expert with the company.

The spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the assaults as "terrorist attacks" and said 12 peacekeepers with the mission were killed in May alone.

Islamic extremists have been attacking international peacekeepers and Malian soldiers working to stabilize the north three years after a French-led military campaign ousted the jihadists from power.

In a separate attack on Tuesday, unidentified gunmen killed three Burkina Faso policemen at their station in Intagom near the border with Mali, Burkina Faso's security minister said.

The gunmen made off with a number of weapons from the police station, said Simon Compaore.

Two weeks ago, gunmen described as jihadists by Burkina Faso's government attacked a police station near the border with Mali and wounded two policemen. One remains in critical condition.